General December Weather

[David]

we have had some decent rain here, I am surprised
6mm now, from a drizzly low cloud WNWer

That is surprising, I have got 0.0mm here! Muggy low of 18.4° overnight.

[Michael]

Drizzly here least dont have to water the garden today before the SW howls again and drys it out.

[DT-NZ]

Dusty, dry and sunny in Hukerenui country @ mo - rain would be most welcome in these parts and alot of it. Happy to hear Aucks recieved a light drizzle... is there a water restriction on in Auck's yet as far as gardening goes? (was just wondering is all) cheer's

[spwill]

Good 2 hr rain dump at the start of the month otherwise a very dry trend last couple of months for Auckland.


looking very cold up the SI east coast for couple of days from tomorrow, campers will be happy.

[David]

Quite a bit cooler here today so nice for a change, can't see the forecast high of 24 being reached unless skies brighten up a bit.

[DT-NZ]

Taken approx 15mins ago looking ESE an interesting air flow... from the ground it looked like the starting of strands of mammatus (?)

[David]

Quite a bit cooler here today so nice for a change, can't see the forecast high of 24 being reached unless skies brighten up a bit.

Typical I post that and then the sun came out later, lol
Temperature shot up fast when the sun came out to 24.4° for a brief while

[Richard]

Got to 27C by 9.30am with a 30C today's max and a 40 km NW

[Michael]

Not a bad day here today,low wind so far.....cooler this evening.

[spwill]

cooler this evening.

It is still 20C here, dewpoint muggy 18C, we will notice the change of air tomorrow but still good holiday weather for the many camping around Northland/Coromandel, the traditional holiday areas for many Aucklanders.

[DT-NZ]

Morning,

The red skies this morning looking east, west and north had to be the most exciting thing weather related I have seen this week so far.

Pic snapped @ 06:02hrs looking east.

[DT-NZ]

2 pics taken by 9 y/o son this morning @ 07:33hrs - at I type a light drizzle has begun to fall -all moisture in the MN and FN regions are most welcome - cooler this morning.

top pic looking north
lower pic looking south

[spwill]

DT-NZ wrote,

The red skies this morning looking east, west and north had to be the most exciting thing weather related I have seen this week so far.

Better to have boring weather at peak holiday time I think.
Clearing skies here, overnight low for Auckland was 18C, dewpoints at a more comfortible level this morn.

[Manukau heads obs]

Better to have boring weather at peak holiday time I think

I was thinking the same thing...nice to have a break from the weather too at times!
(did I really say that?, LOL)

[Michael]

Just getting the broom out every day and leaf blower from the constant SW let alone the roof,waiting for that cross wind who knows when?

[DT-NZ]

Better to have boring weather at peak holiday time I think

boring weather almost makes one go crazy ... *chuckle* *sigh*....

(did I really say that?, LOL)

Yes you did *chuckle* still... got 1mm in rain gauge from the light drizzle earlier on this morning... sun is starting to peek through the clouds now... and I see blue skies appearing towards the SW...

[Michael]

Blue dome sky and no wind this morning in W(h)anganui.

[ricky]

Yes, up the road camping by the Rangitikei river very nice warm mostly Sunny weather now after some heavy showers last night, strong winds earlier, and a very cold night, down to about 4 degrees in the tent i think! should be a couple more fine days to go

[Michael]

yes be sheltered down towarsd fielding/hunterville by the cliffs etc,we now have mostly sunny weather,feels about 21c with a fresh westerly.

[Richard]

Here it started just below 0 and got to 22C by 4.00pm,nice day in the garden after some good rain over night.

[snowstormwatcher]

High cloud here today easterly wind picking up in the afternoon high of 20 degrees. we didnot get any rain off yesterdays southerly. Currently 14 degrees

[Nev]

Just looking at the Dec stats and it looks like a slightly cooler than average month for most places, but also very sunny, particularly in the N and E of the North Island. Also extremely dry in the Far North and very dry in E'ern parts of both islands, but above average rainfall in W'ern areas.

Of the main centres, it looks as though only Akld and Tauranga recorded above average mean-temps. Also, along with Dunedin, they were the only 3 main centres with above average sunshine (especially for Tauranga). I think Akld's total Dec rainfall might be a bit of mixed bag around the region (not unlike Waiheke with above average rainfall here, but much dryer in the E of the Island). Of course, if it hadn't been for decent falls in the first few days, we would've been looking at another very dry month.

[spwill]

BOP again the winner with this pattern with plenty of sunny warm weather, a good December also for Auckland.
Big dry continues for Northland, Whangarei has had around 30mm over the past couple of months, average for the period is 172mm.

[tgsnoopy]

Boo to being the winner, give me some thunderstorms

[Nev]

Here's NIWA's preliminary December 2009 Climate Summary.

National average mean-temp was 15.3C (or 0.3C below normal). Highest temp was 32.0C recorded at Dunedin Airport and lowest temp was -3.5C recorded at Lumsden.

No mention of the Methven Tornado, just the unconfirmed report of a 'tornado' sighting near Springfield on the same day.